Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/649

 KINGSTON HUNDRED

��t local merchant, with seisin of the bridge, its charters, and the house pertaining to it." This house was, it has been suggested, on a site in the horse market, where a curious crypt of shaped chalk stones was recently discovered." The bridge probably under- went little modification from an early period until the igth century. Sketches made in about 1800 show a long and flimsy wooden structure consisting of a narrow causeway railed on either side and rest- ing on rows of piles disposed in groups of four or five banded together by wooden beams. At this time the ducking stool stood prominently at the east end of the bridge." This lightness of build necessitated constant repairs ; the bridge was in a dangerous condition in 1318, when pontage was granted to the bailiffs and good men for six years upon all wares for sale crossing and from each ship laden with wares for sale exceeding the value of loos, passing beneath it." The grant was renewed for five years in 1383," and again in 1400 for three years, when the king' esquire, William Loveney, and two others were ap- pointed surveyors. 5 * A flood did much damage in 1435, and pontage was obtained for five years" ; this developed into a regular system of toll, 58 which was so burdensome that Robert Hammond settled land valued at 40 for the support and redemption of the bridge, the gift being commemorated by the following inscription on a rail at about the middle of the bridge :

' 1565 Robert Hamon gentleman, BaylifF of Kingston

heretofore, He then made this bridge toll-free for evermore '

When these rails were replaced, a stone similarly inscribed was set in the brickwork of the north side of the western abutment.* 9 The tolls had formed a considerable part of the revenue which the borough administered in support of the bridge through the bridge wardens, though there was also an estate appropriated to the purpose, and some benefit was derived from the lands of Clement Milan. 40

In 1556 the decay of the bridge and the burdens sustained about its repair were the pretexts for the grant of the fair of St. Mary Magdalene's Day, and also of a fish weir " The bridgewardens' accounts begin at the close of the I4th century, but are not detailed until 1568 ; later they were rendered annu- ally to the Court of Assembly and signed by the bailiffs." The wardens kept a storehouse for neces- sary materials, their usual method being to buy timber and make the repairs by their own workmen ; so in 1572 I2</. was paid ' for making of the Plankes,' 5/. ' for two legges for the brydges," and 2S. for ' sloping of holes ' ; gravel for the causeway was always a serious item. 4 * In the same year 1 3*. was given to the poor on Easter Day, and probably the 1 8</. paid to the churchwardens in 1569 was also for alms. 44 The Court of Assembly made such by-laws as were

��KINGSTON- UPON-THAMES

needful;so in 1680 and 1685 it was 'ordered that if upon any Saturday or other market or Faire day of the saide Towne two carts meete upon the Great Bridge of Kingston that then each carte shall forfeit the sume of 6J. which said Forfeiture shalbe paid by the owner of the said carte or partie driving the same to Thomas Styles keeper of the said Bridge to give an acct thereof to the Bayliffs and Freemen, and that everie emptie carte alwaies give way to the loaded.' 4 * This order points to the narrowness of the bridge, which was only partly remedied when its Middlesex side was considerably widened in about lygi. 46 In 1812 the bridge was in such a state of decay as to be beyond repair, and the bridge estate was wholly inadequate to meet the cost of rebuilding. The corporation tried to shift the responsiblity on to the counties of Middlesex and Surrey, with the result that cross indictments were filed. 4 ' Judgement was finally given against the borough, and money was raised by the sale of lands. An Act of Par- liament for rebuilding the bridge was obtained in 1 825," and the work was begun in that year, Lord Liverpool, the High Steward, laying the first stone. 49 The bridge, which rests on five arches of stone, was the design of Edward Lapidge, the archi- tect of the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge, and himself a local man. 40 It was built about loo yards south of the old one and brought about a considerable change in the topography of this part of the town. Hitherto the way from London Street had been down Wood Street into the Horse Fair and then west from this down Old Bridge Street, at the corner of which probably stood the Bridge House. To approach the new bridge London Street was con- tinued westward from the point at which Church Row touches it, sweeping away the row of houses abutting on the churchyard which now lay open to the view. The new street was called Clarence Street in honour of the Duchess of Clarence, wife of the prince afterwards William IV, who opened the bridge in grand procession in July 1828. The skeleton of the old bridge still stood, though with several bays broken to prevent its use. For some years tolls were charged and were let for 2,000 a year." There was much rejoicing when the toll was abolished in 1870, and from this time the volume of traffic has continuously increased.

From the great bridge the way south into the town lay down Thames Street. The north end of this, the open Horse Fair, and the surrounding ' Back Laines,' as they were called in the 1 6th century," were cleared of their ancient buildings and undesirable inhabitants in 1905, when the present houses were built. Farther south the 1 7th and 1 8th- century houses still remain : the street is divided from the river by shops with gardens behind ; passages lead through darkness into alleys such as Fountain Court, where the houses stand round an enormous leaden

��11 Rat. Lie. Claut. (R*c. Com.), i, 558.

Benjamin Carter.
 * Informal!?!? kindly given by Mr.

88 Some interesting sketches of the bridge c. 1800, by Thomas Rowlandson, are exhibited in the Municipal Art Gal- lery and Museum.

84 Cal. Pat. 1317-21, p. 113.

" Ibid. 1381-5, p. 219.


 * Ibid. 1399-1401, pp. 389, 413.


 * > Ibid. 1429-36, p. 462.

��88 Manning and Bray, Surr, i, 346, where the tariff ii given. Ibid. 347.

40 Doc. of Corp. Accts. of the bridge- wardens, churchwarden*, &c.

41 Roots, Ckartert, 78.

41 Doc. of Corp Ct. of Assembly Bks. passim.

48 Doc. of Corp. Bridgewardens' Accts. 1572.

"Ibid. 1569.

489

��46 Doc. of Corp. Ct. of Assembly Bk. 2 Dec. 1680 : 3 Apr 1684.

45 Manning and Bray, Sarr. i, 347.

p. xxxvi.
 * ' Manning and Bray, Surr. iii, App.

48 Local Act, 6 Ceo. IV, cap. 125 ; 1 1 Geo. IV.-i Will. IV, cap. 65.

49 Brayley, Hitt. of Surr. iii, 48. u Diet. Nat. Biog. xxxii, 141.

11 Brayley, Hiit. of Surr. iii, 48. w Roots, Charters, 105.

62

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